It's January in Florida, but just one look at her weather app showing the minus 1-degree temperatures back in Chicago, confirms to Chloe Jackson that staying in Emerald Cove was the right decision. With her work at the Sea Glass Saloon, volunteering at the local community library, and building a life with new friends, the former children's librarian is finally settling into the quiet routine of the tiny Gulf town, where everyone knows everyone else and all their business.
Then one morning, after opening the bar, she spots a small plane pulling a long banner across the sky, reading "I love you, Chloe Jackson!" This was soon followed by a huge bouquet of her favorite flowers and a magnum of her favorite wine, all accompanied by an unsigned card with the same claim. It’s too early in their relationship for these displays to come from Rhett "Rip" Barnett, the only man she'd seen romantically since she arrived in town eight months ago. Chloe is completely stumped by who could be behind the extravagant, and so public, declarations of love.
That afternoon as she walked home via the beach, Chloe was shocked to encounter the sheriff's department working a crime scene a very short distance from her cottage. A man's body had been found floating in the nearby coastal dune lake, and in his hand was a picture of Chloe!
THREE SHOTS TO THE WIND is the third novel in Sherry Harris's fun and fabulous Chloe Jackson, Sea Glass Saloon cozy mystery series, and it does not disappoint. Chloe, the former children's librarian from Chicago, has quickly become one of my favorite cozy sleuths and this latest case, with its great characters and its intriguing and mysterious plot, was excellent.
The mystery of the man found deceased with Chloe's picture in his hand is startling. What he's been doing while in Emerald Cove is a baffling puzzle for Chloe to solve. I liked that Chloe took charge of her own safety and that we got to see her seriously investigate, talking to an ever-increasing number of credible suspects. She tries to do the right thing and keep Deputy Biffle informed of what she discovered. And goodness, she meets some awful people! Yes, some involved are genuinely grieving, but others are just downright ugly-spirited.
I liked that in this adventure, we learn more about Chloe's life before coming to Emerald Cove and get to meet her two older brothers Randy and Kenny, both regular guys and family men, and genuinely delightful characters. Also, I enjoyed seeing the relationship between Chloe and Vivi Jo Slidell, the other partner in the Sea Glass Saloon, continue to evolve, and her romantic relationship with Rip appears to be progressing quite nicely. In addition, it was fun to read the little mentions of regional differences in speech, manners, and food between Chicago and Emerald Cove. I nodded in agreement many times and laughed.
I recommend THREE SHOTS TO THE WIND for cozy mystery readers - especially those who would enjoy a strong, capable female protagonist or a light and fun setting in a Florida Gulf Coast bar.
Chloe’s Windy City ex-fiancé gets blown away in the Florida panhandle . . .
DEAD EXES TELL NO TALES
Saloon owner Chloe Jackson appears to have a secret admirer. She’s pouring drinks at the Sea Glass Saloon in Emerald Cove when an airplane flies by above the beach with a banner reading I LOVE YOU CHLOE JACKSON. She immediately rules out Rip Barnett. They are in the early stages of dating and no one has said the L word. Then a bouquet of lilacs—her favorite flower—is delivered to the bar, followed by an expensive bottle of her favorite sparkling wine. It couldn’t be . . .
Sure enough, her ex-fiancé from Chicago has flown down to Florida for an accountants’ convention. But is he trying to mix business with pleasure and win her back? Unfortunately he’s not in a hotel conference room, he’s floating facedown in the lake next to her house, clutching a photo of Chloe. Who murders an accountant on a business trip—it just doesn’t add up. When Rip becomes the prime suspect, Chloe is determined to find the secret murderer. But if she isn’t careful, it may be closing time and lights out for her . . .
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